Shows/2002-08-06

6 wikians attended: Arben FrankEinstein Poutinstereo Tmbjared Wetgravity Yoi55

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Setlist:

• Victorious Intro
• Clap Your Hands
• Bed Bed Bed
• Everything Right Is Wrong Again
• Fingertips
• John Lee Supertaster
• In The Middle
• Sleepwalkers
• She's Actual Size
• Doctor Worm
• Drink!
• On The Drag
• Dead
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
• Minimum Wage
• Boss Of Me
• Man, It's So Loud In Here
• Spin The Dial
• Older
• The Guitar
• Four Of Two
• Cyclops Rock
• Why Does The Sun Shine?
• Cocktail
• No!
• Robot Parade (Adult Version)
• Birdhouse In Your Soul

Encore:

• Violin
• How Can I Sing Like A Girl?

They Might Be Giants
— with Gregory Douglass opening —
Metropol in Pittsburgh, PA
August 6, 2002

Fan Recaps and Comments:

Review by Steve:
Well, we got there at 7:04, 4 minutes after the doors opened, and there was already a line all down the sidewalk. Luckily it moved quickly, and we got inside the dark, smoky Metropol. It was packed, but we were able to sit on the bar right next to the stage, and we had a good view of the band. At 8:00, the lousy opening act, Gregory Douglass, mumbled incoherently through about seven songs, and then left (thank goodness!) The roadies came out to test the stuff while the DJ played stuff like "Groove Is In The Heart" and "Shake Your Groove Thing". But finally, some time after 9:00, TMBG took the stage.

The audience was completely wild, and so was TMBG. They rocked through "Everything Right Is Wrong Again" (from "our new album They Might Be Giants"), "The Guitar" ('f-ck yeah!'), "She's Actual Size" (complete with Dial-A-Drum Solo), "Doctor Worm", "Istanbul" (with the fake trumpet), and so much more, coming back for their two encores, including the entire audience doing the wave.

Then came meeting Flans. I got Danny Weinkauf to sign "They Got Lost" while I waited, and then we waited for Flans, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited....the guard told everyone to wait outside. Then Flans came out, AND HE WOULDN'T LET ANYONE BACK IN! (What an arsehole.) My mom had to talk my way back in, and I got out with Flans's autograph at least. Anyway, it was a great show!!!

Review by Ben Greenwood:
Well, we (my father, a few friends, and I) got to the Metropol a little after the doors opened. I remember waiting in line, and someone said 'Wow, a lot of kids here.' Hehe. Well anyway, we got in and I bought a T-shirt, and They Got Lost, and everyone bought some other junk they wanted. Anyway, we got to our spots in the 'pit.' We were in front of this tall dude, but we could see anyway. Well, at least I could...I don't know about my friends. But anyway, the opening act came on. It was just two guys with accoustic guitars...they were terrible (no offense to anyone relating to them). Between acts, I noticed a kid sitting on the railing getting down to the mewzak!! Hehe, he was really something. I'm glad to see people forcing their kids to go to TMBG shows. When I grow up, I'm gonna raise my kids on TMBG, even if they are dead by then. Yadda yadda yadda...I'm tired today. I have a cold and stuff, so this review sounds a lot less hyper-active than my previous ones, and I rattle off onto random subjects a lot more (forgive me, please!). Anyway, TMBG got on, and my friend Matt's ears hurt. I tried telling him that after his ears get damaged during the first two songs, it's not as deafening, but he couldn't hear me. I guess he had already gone deaf. Anyway, I guess I moved a little to the left or something, because this girl behind me told me 'If you stand like that for the whole show, I will love you forever!' Yup, that's me. The chick magnet Ben. I just can't keep 'em off me, especially if I stay out of their ways at shows. Anyway, we all went deaf after a while, and the noise didn't hurt as much. The show itself was great. I'd have liked to hear some of their older music instead of all the new stuff off of No!, but I guess they just wanted to get off of the old routine. It was a good experience for diversity at least. They didn't play James K. Polk, Ana Ng, Particle Man...very few of the classic show songs. It was still a lot of fun. I remember John Linnell made the crowd do a very organized version of the 'wave.' You know, that thing sports people do? Yea...Well anyway, at one point he commented on the hotel resturaunt beside the Metropol. He looked over and said 'err...I get confused every time we come here, so let's just clear things up and it won't happen every time we come here. Are you guys part of the Metropol, or some sort of different hotel resturaunt or something?' I don't think they heard him, but he claimed that they answered 'a hotel resturaunt.' Flansburgh referred to the resturaunt as the cocaine section later on during the show. I sort of wish they did track 13 off of Miscellaneous T. I just thought that would have been really cool live...I guess they don't really do that one very often. Oh well. When we left, Peter decided that the pit was a lot better than the balcony (we were in the balcony at the last show). We all thought the show was great, and we went to McDonald's afterwards. We were having trouble ordering, so Jason apologized: 'We are having trouble thinking after that concert we went to.' Lady behind the counter: 'Oh, who'd you guys see?' Us: 'They Might Be Giants.' Lady: 'Who's There May Be Giants?' (Actually, she just went blank faced, like she was confused or something, but it's funnier to make her ask 'Who's There May Be Giants?') Jason: Don't ask. Yup. We had fun. And we all lived happily ever after.

Review by Jason:
I just wanted to chime in here, as my friends and I were the "cocaine section" mentioned in another review for this show. We showed up about 15 mins. early and were the first people to head for the upstairs bar (naturally). We saw the window-type opening looking over the stage and decided to pull up some sofas and enjoy the show from up on high. During the opening act we tore up our beer bottle labels so they spelled "TMBG" and stuck them to a pane of glass in front of us. I don't think any of the Johns or Dans noticed it.

All in all I must say we easily had the best seats in the house, especially considering there was a waitress to bring us drinks so we didn't lose our seats. By the time the Johns started the Wave we were all just a little drunk and rowdy, which is why Flans referred to us as the cocaine section. Plus we got to chat a little with Dan Miller as he was about 5 feet away from us when he was off stage for the songs in which he didn't play.

We also helped out a little during the Spin the Dial segment, as neither John could figure out what was playing when Magic Carpet Ride came on. We all shouted out the name of the song, and one of the Dans pointed at us and told John L. what song it was. What fun.

So, yeah...Long Live the Cocaine Section!